Happy New Year, Friend! And welcome to 2019.
I’ve heard people talk about their resolutions. However, it seems resolutions are on their way out. I mean, resolutions take discipline and stick-to-itiveness and frankly, that’s not really at the top of the list in our culture today.
I’ve heard others say that due to the lack of success making resolutions, they’ve decided to choose a word to embrace in 2019. One “life” blogger wrote…
“The difference between a New Year Resolution and the word for the year is that there are no concrete goals involving either success or failure, but a theme that guides you through not only the year but through life.” Nupur Roopa
Sounds great doesn’t it? At least success and failure are not at stake when we just choose a word to guide us, right?
For believers in Jesus, there is nothing wrong with looking ahead in hopes of growing in some way. For different seasons and different reasons, words of inspiration can motivate us to not give up and to press on.
Those who follow Jesus have the promise from His Word that He will guide our steps; that He will show us the path to take; that He has purpose for us and abundance in living.
He has proven Himself faithful to guide my steps all throughout my life in countless ways. He is EVER FAITHFUL.
But this New Year morning, with a blank slate ahead, God prompted me to think in a different vein.
I was reading from the Bible (my anchor, my tried-and-true source for living, God’s words to us) and I came upon a verse that I pondered for a while.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
It’s a familiar verse. I often think of the wonderful promise that if I abide in Christ I will bear much fruit. He will empower me to be fruitful!
But this morning I got to thinking of how I tend to try to grow my fruit on God’s tree. Ever consider that?
Am I trying to grow my fruit on God’s tree?
What do you want for 2019? Are you saying,
“God, here’s my plan. Please bless it!”
“God, I’m setting big goals! Please help me achieve them!”
It may even sound sacrificial and noble to say, “God, I plan to sacrifice for You in this way or that!”
But whose fruit is it?
As natural as breathing, followers of Christ should naturally be nourished by the Vine, strengthened in His power and bearers of HIS fruit. I honestly hadn’t thought much about the fact that I cry out for God to strengthen me but sometimes it’s to grow my fruit on the vine. This is impossible.
Let’s consider a few more things from this verse.
He says we will have power and life…if we abide in Him and He abides in us. If you miss the meaning of the word abide, you miss the charge altogether. We often tend to think of abide as a passive, tranquil positioning.
Let’s look at the definition of ABIDE: to bear patiently, to endure without yielding, to wait for, to accept without objection, to remain stable or fixed, to continue in a place, to conform, to accept without objection.
So if we ABIDE in Him (as mentioned above)
And if He abides in us (what He longs to do in every heart)
We will be bearers of His fruit.
How would 2019 look different for you if you took this approach?
How does this approach and instruction from God’s Word look differently than your initial thoughts and goals for 2019?
Friend, here’s the beauty in reading this message today. It’s the perfect time to start anew with our dreams and desires for 2019 built on God’s instruction and purposes given to us in His Word.
Let our hearts be fixed on abiding in the Vine – Jesus. Let’s be a conduit of His power in this dark world. Let’s be His fruit bearers.
Lastly, we are told in this verse that believers who live their lives apart from Christ can bear no fruit. “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
We can do nothing of eternal significance, nothing of spiritual good. Gill’s Exposition Commentary says,
For without me ye can do nothing; nothing that is spiritually good; no, not anything at all, be it little or great, easy or difficult to be performed; cannot think a good thought, speak a good word, or do a good action; can neither begin one, nor, when it is begun, perfect it. Nothing is to be done “without Christ”; without his Spirit, grace, strength, and presence; or as “separate from” him. Were it possible for the branches that are truly in him, to be removed from him, they could bring forth no fruits of good works, any more than a branch separated from the vine can bring forth grapes; so that all the fruitfulness of a believer is to be ascribed to Christ, and his grace, and not to the free will and power of man.
If you have asked Jesus to become your Lord and Savior, you’ve been grafted into the Vine (into Him) to bear much fruit. Stay connected in every way to the Source, (through obedience, surrender, Bible reading, and prayer) and you will bear much fruit in 2019. You will do far more than your mind can think up or your plans can establish. This is the path to truly living in 2019!
If you have not entered into a personal relationship with God through Christ, you can start the year off right by giving Him your heart and life. Then you will be grafted into the Vine and experience His power in your life. Your year and beyond will be forever changed. I would love to talk with you more about how to have a relationship with God through Christ. Please feel free to e-mail me at tammy@lifehousede.com.
Friends, do you need to take another look at your goals for 2019? Let 2019 be a year of bearing much fruit in Christ. All other plans fall short.
